IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: A solar boost from Obama; Tarballs in Texas; And a blimp to the rescue... PLUS: Record heat hits Northeast and climate scientists exonerated --- AGAIN --- but climate change deniers still report it this way [cue: crickets] ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Thanks to a Feed-in Tariff program it began in 2007 that resulted in a sevenfold jump in installs, individual Italians are now installing solar on buildings at the astounding rate of 250 MW, or the size of a typical power station, every two months, in a seeming vindication of a policy that Al Gore recommended to congress in 2007, an “electranet” which would pay individuals for power supplied to the grid from their roofs.

[A]n examination of the American tax code indicates that oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses, with tax breaks available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process.

Five days after the April 20 blowout, [Florida attorney Robert J.] McKee said, he tried to hire a scientist who's assisted him in an ongoing 16-year environmental lawsuit in Ecuador involving Dupont.

"It was too late. He'd already been hired by the other side," McKee said. "If you aren't fast enough, you get beat to the punch."

Banned Trailers Return for Latest Gulf Disaster: One of Mr. Mason's trailers, shown to a reporter, had an overpowering smell of formaldehyde inside and none of the required placards on the outside or inside indicating the formaldehyde risk or that it was not supposed to be used for housing. The trailer did, however, have a note taped inside to call FEMA. (NY Times)

Agency Agreed Wildlife Risk From Oil Was 'Low': [i]n a letter dated Sept. 14, 2007, the wildlife agency agreed with the minerals service's characterization that the chances that deepwater drilling would result in a spill that would pollute critical habitat was "low."(NY Times)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

How Does Sewage Treatment Work?: Sewage treatment turns out to be a somewhat less nasty business than you probably thought. "We're like a nation of 1-year-olds, throwing everything in the toilet."... The sewer, person after person tells me, is for sewage. (Scientific American)

Judges rule Obama can't close Yucca Mountain nuclear dump: "Unless Congress directs otherwise, DOE may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process by withdrawing the (Yucca repository) application. DOE's motion must therefore be denied," the judges wrote, adding that the DOE had weakened its arguments by "conceding that the application is not flawed nor the (Yucca) site unsafe." (McClatchy DC)

Already, in the last three years, China has shut down more than a thousand older coal-fired power plants that used technology of the sort still common in the United States. China has also surpassed the rest of the world as the biggest investor in wind turbines and other clean energy technology. And it has dictated tough new energy standards for lighting and gas mileage for cars.

But even as Beijing imposes the world's most rigorous national energy campaign, the effort is being overwhelmed by the billionfold demands of Chinese consumers.

Chinese and Western energy experts worry that China's energy challenge could become the world's problem - possibly dooming any international efforts to place meaningful limits on global warming.

Tibetan Environmentalist Jailed for Five Years: Picking up trash and planting trees sounds about as uncontroversial as activism can get, but an internationally recognized Tibetan environmentalist who had been organizing local villagers to do just that has has been sentenced to five years in jail for "inciting to split the nation" --- a charge his supporters believe was trumped up after he accused a local police officer of poaching. (Treehugger)

The movie 'FUEL' (freely viewed at www.hulu.com) points out that CO2 from coal fired power plants and from wastewater treatment facilities can be captured and utilized by algae that can be turned into clean burning biofuels.

A good temporary solution to the deadly environmental externalities foisted onto the public.

The reason they actually might add algae ponds near these waste sources is that they can charge a per gallon cost to biofuel consumers to recoup costs.

After the Muir Russell report was released, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) issued a statement charging: “[The report] gives every appearance of addressing all the allegations that have been made.... However, the committee relied almost entirely on the testimony of those implicated in the scandal or those who have a vested interest in defending the establishment view of global warming. The critics of the CRU with the most expertise were not interviewed. It is easy to find for the accused if no prosecution witnesses are allowed to take the stand.”

Bureaucracies produce notoriously bad science. When money and power are awarded based upon finding “facts” that fit a political agenda, then scientific objectivity gives way to that political agenda. That is why only a lifelong bureaucrat like Russell could be trusted to conduct the investigation of the Climate Research Institute. As the CEI put it, the Russell report is “a classic example of the establishment circling its wagons to defend itself.”